


let the burn keep me in check.

by aroundu



Category: Ensemble Stars! (Video Game)
Genre: (not rlly nsfw; nothing explicit happens!!), Alternate Universe - Yakuza, Bodyguard! Kaoru, Face Slapping, Love Introspection, M/M, Making Out, Masochism, Yakuza! Rei
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-11-15
Updated: 2020-11-15
Packaged: 2021-03-10 04:36:21
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,717
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27577952
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/aroundu/pseuds/aroundu
Summary: Kaoru doesn’t think being slapped in the face should fill him with a feeling he thinks is encroaching on “love,” but then again the rough kiss he’s pulled into that speaks of null apology blurs his thoughts into a single thing that begs for more.“You’re havin’ too much fun,” Rei scolds. “I would’ve wanted better than a bitch to protect me. The fuck are ya supposed to do when someone comes to kill me? Ya gonna grovel at their feet and beg for a kick to the face?”
Relationships: Hakaze Kaoru/Sakuma Rei
Kudos: 22
Collections: Reikao Week 2020!





	let the burn keep me in check.

**Author's Note:**

> reupload because the original one flopped because i saved it as a draft a few days prior to uploading so it didnt properly show up in the tag >.<  
> (written for rk week 2020 <3)

Kaoru doesn’t know what love is.

This fact never once bothered him growing up, because in between the marksmanship, DIY poison, and fighting lessons tasked to him, he didn’t have time to fret about blood rushing to people’s cheeks- only ways to get that blood outside the body. Maybe at night the thought crossed his head, but with a schedule as rigid as his, he refused sparing anything but sleep to the dark embrace of night.

He doesn’t think being slapped in the face should fill him with a feeling he thinks is encroaching on “love,” but then again the rough kiss he’s pulled into that speaks of null apology blurs his thoughts into a single thing that begs for more.

It never hurts- or well, it does, but the pain is narcotic to him when it’s Rei delivering it. He’s been slapped before, a lot actually, since he’s always doing something to tick off his superiors, and those times he walked away with nothing more than a dull annoyance in his chest and the red mark on his cheek a reminder to be a better bodyguard. With Rei though, it’s treatment behind doors, when there’s no need to uphold his reputation- when it’s only for Kaoru. 

He likes how Rei moves with a cold-assertiveness only an up and coming Yakuza leader could have, yet when he’s with Kaoru he’s fiery hot, taunts and aggression lacing his words.

Neither of them were quite raised for love, and both were meant to be machines of war; a forlorn Yakuza heir raised drinking the blood of rivals his parents killed in front of him, and a child from a lineage of trained guards, who took his first life by the age of five. 

So, maybe it’s because they’re both a little fucked up that it comes to this. 

Pinned back against the counter, a fresh handprint on his face, and black nails digging into his wrists like the fangs digging into his lips. He never understood it when books said kissing was like a battle, but he gets it now only because he knows he’s losing, with how Rei keeps sucking at the pin pricking blood while Kaoru can do nothing but  _ let _ him. Countless requests swirl in his mind, but he can’t choose nor could he verbalize a word with Rei’s tongue down his throat.

He burns everywhere Rei touches him, like all he wants to do is seduce Kaoru to ashes and stray embers. It’s not even the slap that burns the most, it’s all the other deprived touches that ignite fire in him yet smother any ounce of a fighting spirit in him all the same. His breath catches as a hand moves up to his hair, wasting no time with a tease and going straight for a hard yank that detaches his lips from Rei’s and has his head dragged back with a hiss.

“You’re havin’ too much fun,” Rei scolds, continuing to hold his bodyguard in place. “I would’ve wanted better than a bitch to protect me. The fuck are ya supposed to do when someone comes to kill me? Ya gonna grovel at their feet and beg for a kick to the face?”

He doesn’t try to answer or fight back. Or deny that if Rei kicked him in the face he’d probably never rise from the ground because his legs would be too weak. The harsh tone just makes Kaoru bite his lip and look up at the ceiling, as if praying to god were a good thing to do in a situation like this. 

“Are ya gonna answer me, or ya still just gonna let me abuse ya?” Rei pulls tighter on his hair.

Kaoru swallows, no words coming to mind that could possibly be the answer Rei was looking for. And no answer was the worst one, because he gains mobility of his neck again as his hair is released, and he has to bite harder on his lip to stop from whining. 

“Hakaze-kun.” Goosebumps rose on Kaoru’s arms at the call of his name, and if asked then he’d be willing to rip out his left lung and give it up. “Stop bein’ a bitch and fight back some, why don’t ya?”

“I’d never raise my hand against my superior, Rei-sama.”

He anticipates the slap. He craves the rough hand against his cheek like a burning kiss, but when his cheek is held instead in a gentle grasp, he wants to squirm.

“Said don’t be a bitch. How the fuck am I s’sposed to know if shit’s equal here if ya ain’t gonna give me a lil’ roughplay too?” Rei’s thumb rubs against Kaoru’s cheekbone, as if wiping away the tingling red from the earlier hit.

Kaoru doesn’t know what to make of it when the delicate touch sends his breathing to come out just as hard, or that he’s finding it hard not to dip the whole weight of his head into the palm of Rei’s hand. He supposes it could just be that he’s touch-starved, so as long as these tattooed hands stay on him, he really doesn’t care what they’re doing. And he supposes he is something of a bitch, considering he really has no problem about striking Rei but he does have a problem with leaving from this corner he’s backed into. The counter edge digging into his back is uncomfortable, sure, and he really has no space to breathe other than sharing the air, and all this really means is that he’s just that much of a bitch.

Rei grew tired of waiting, unsatisfied with Kaoru’s silence, and stepped away from him completely. There wasn’t a single bone in his body that wouldn’t be broken for being selfish, years of conditioning made sure of that, yet something in him was so desperate for this that he found himself latching onto Rei’s wrist and holding him in place.

A moment of silence passed between them. Rei, made still by Kaoru, and Kaoru kept frozen by his own frantically beating heart. Red eyes met his and he could feel the same desperation in them, the need to have this.

Yanking Rei back is easy, and the satisfaction of how quick the man caves in pounds through Kaoru’s blood like some sort of poison. His superior is nothing more than putty in his hands as he’s pulled forward then pushed against the countertop, replacing Kaoru’s former position. He would hate to be a copycat, so his calloused hands steer clear of black hair and instead wander down to his hips. Selfishness can only extend so far into taking the lead though, so his grip still ends up being weaker than what was used against him, but he makes up for it with how insistently he brings their lips together. Rei too seems to only back down so much, as he hardly lets Kaoru lead, and remains the one taking control of it all while still acting like a delicate doll too fragile to move from the rough placement he’s in.

“Kaoru,” his voice is breathy yet still holding the spoiledness that only a Yakuza raised heir could have. “Don’t be a fuckin’ baby and slap me or somethin’. C’mon, let me see those damn fine muscles ain’t just for show.”

Kaoru bites back a refusal to do so, much too ingrained in him to hurt his superior, but manhandling is something he could deal with. He digs his fingers into Rei's waist, pushing him further against the counter before peeling his lips away from his mouth to dip down the smooth pale skin of Rei's neck. He mouths sloppy kisses down it until he reaches colorful ink sneaking past the collar of his shirt. Dozens of tattoos encompassed the Yakuza's body- a burden of the job, but one that Kaoru thought was rather irresistibly sexy. 

His mouth freezes and his tongue lags out as he feels dull fingernails dig into his scalp and tug at his hair, and he hardly has the mind to even attempt to take back control of this encounter. All thoughts of kissing along various snake and knife tattoos are thrown away when Rei pulls him off his neck and forces him back up to his lips.

A retort is on the tip of his tongue, something about Rei being whiney or spoiled, but Rei laps up whatever was potentially there and just sends Kaoru into a silence occupied only by his pulse beating in his ears and their heavy breaths only able to escape through their noses.

Rei really seems to lack any patience for Kaoru's pathetic attempt at taking control, because soon enough he's pried off the hands at his waist and pushed himself away from the counter and being cornered. 

And then he leaves Kaoru's lips. "You are a fuckin' bitch, ya know that? Can't do a goddamn thing I tell ya. But you don't even mind that, do ya?" Rei grips his hair so hard it starts to burn at his scalp, yet Kaoru bites his lip to hold back what definitely isn't a whine of pain. "I'll have to fuckin' beat ya for that. Disobeyin' orders and shit."

There's no moment of hesitance or pause and before he realizes it, Kaoru's cheek is stinging and it only hurts more with how Rei kept his head in place by holding his hair. He feels so lightheaded from everything happening so quickly and so fiery that he really would get on his knees and start begging for  _ anything _ more, but he isn't even sure his shaking legs would manage to hold out.

He wants to imagine the sudden ringing is all in his head because he was just slapped, but when he's let go and thrown away like nothing more than trash under Rei's feet as he digs into his pocket to retrieve his phone, he knows it isn't so.

Rei spares not a single glance towards him as he starts rambling on the phone about some job, taking determined steps to his office and shutting the door behind him, a noise as final as the flatline on a monitor.

And Kaoru doesn't really know what love is, but he thinks he could start to understand a bit about jealousy.


End file.
